‘Martin O’Neill to quit Aston Villa’ rumours untrue

Widespread speculation that
Martin O’Neill has sensationally resigned as Aston Villa manager have been discredited by the club as ‘completely untrue’.

Villan of the piece? Has Martin O’Neill resigned as manager of Aston Villa?

According to reports in the tabloid press on Tuesday, O’Neill walked out on Villa after a heated disagreement with American owner Randy Lerner over the amount of money available to buy new players.

However, the club have denied the rumours have any credence and insist the highly-rated Ulsterman is still in charge of first-team affairs.

West Midlands-born former Villa striker Stan Collymore has also said O’Neill is ‘100% not going anywhereâ.

It remains unclear what sparked the widely reported speculation over the Villa manager’s future, although he is known to have been in low spirits in recent days following his side’s capitulation against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.

Having matched their title-chasing opponents for much of the early exchanges, and drawing 1-1 until the stroke of half-time, a second-half collapse saw the Midlands side ship six goals in a lacklustre display – severely denting their hopes of snatching the fourth Champions League spot this season.

Rumours O’Neill is unhappy with the wage bill he is being forced to work with appear wide of the mark, as the Northern Irishman made his name by delivering success on a shoestring budget.

Having risen to prominence at Wycombe Wanderers in the early 1990s by winning back-to-back promotions from the Conference to then-Division Two, he won the Carling Cup twice with unfancied Leicester City in 1997 and 2000.

After joining Celtic in 2000 he also won three Scottish Premier League titles, three Scottish Cups, and the League Cup once in his five seasons in charge while keeping the club’s expenditure under control.